09/17/2013

This series follows Gord Closson and team at the South Coast Standing Stem Logging Company. Working in the mountainous terrain of Canada’s Vancouver Island in British Columbia, these skilled specialists prepare timber for extraction by helicopter.

We see several different projects. The first is to extract mature red cedar some 30 to 40 metres tall and as much as 25 feet in circumference. If the risks are high, the potential rewards are high too, with one stem worth as much as 50,000 dollars.

The risks come in several forms. There are all the usual hazards of felling on uneven, steep-sided terrain. But the specialist skills are the amount of climbing and moving from tree to tree at height that are involved. There is spectacular footage of ‘clawing’, using a grapple to hook on to a neighbouring tree as an anchorage to swing across. We appreciate the skills of the experienced fellers when we see newcomers – even with experience elsewhere – not making the grade.

Gord Closson always seems to over-commit the team so that they are working against deadlines with bad weather and darkness on their way. The stems are taken out by Chinook helicopter, the most powerful logging helicopter available, at a cost of 15,000 dollars per hour. Pilot Karen Trimmer keeps the turn-rounds short.

The capital costs of the enterprise are high, so the team has to ensure that timber of sufficient weight is available for each load which is taken out from stems felled to the ground or by ‘jigging’. The technique of jigging is to saw into the stems sufficiently so that the helicopter can snap the stem as it lifts, but not so far that the stem breaks off in the wind.

Other projects we see include clearing ground for electric power lines and operating close to a salmon stream which has to be kept free of debris, part of the eco-friendly policy that the team follows.

So, this is one of the world’s most perilous jobs in which every day the team members have to make a lot of decisions and get them right. One false move can spell disaster.

09/16/2013

The first airing for advance copies of Farming in Miniature Volume 1 (see blog post 5 August) was on Saturday at the Sandown Park Toy Collectors Fair. This was the first time the authors had seen copies of their printed book. They are, left to right, Peter Wade-Martins, Adrian Little and Robert Newson.

They also signed the bookplates which will accompany orders for the book received up to November 1st by Old Pond and affiliated retailers.

09/12/2013

Sprayers &Spreaders: self-propelled machines in Britain, Chris Lockwood. DVD approx 112 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-81-2. To be released in October by Old Pond Publishing at £16.95 inc VAT.

For further information or to order in advance please email jennie@oldpond.com or phone 01473 238200.

From the late 1970s, we have witnessed the continuous technical development of sprayers and spreaders. Chris Lockwood demonstrates this by showing 51 examples in operation.

He starts with some early self-propelled conversions such as the SAM F.C. from 1977. Although hydrostatic drive was soon to take over, mechanical-drive machines continued to play a role, particularly in special applications.

The bulk of Chris Lockwood’s programme deals with sprayers from the 1990s onwards. Increased tanks capacities, greater boom width, higher clearance and improved driver comfort are just some of the many advances that Chris shows and describes. By the end of the programme we have reached the full integration of GPS, with automatic functions to govern boom levelling, section control and steering.

The DVDs made by Suffolk-based agricultural journalist Chris Lockwood include One Farm, One Year, an outstanding account of four seasons on a large arable farm. In Sprayers & Spreaders Chris continues his quest to show in detail the range of machinery that is an essential part of modern arable farming.

09/10/2013

The recommended retail price of The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume Two: Nuffield and Leyland 1963-1982, previously announced at £24.95 has been reduced by Old Pond to £19.95. The book is now in stock. For further details see here.

09/09/2013

The American Dream Part One: Following the Yellow Trail. Filmed by Kevin and Steven Clarke. Edited and produced by Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD approx 95 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-82-9. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

Norfolk (England) farming brothers and contractors Steven and Kevin Clarke share with us their fascination for harvesting in North America and in particular for custom cutter Dale Starks. Dale was the contractor who starred with his team of MF 760 combines in the 1976 BBC film Yellow Trail from Texas.

After seeing the Clarkes at work on their own East Anglian farm with big MF equipment we go on a road tour through the American corn belt, as recorded by them in 2007. They introduce us to farmers and contractors and show classic and modern combines at work, including a superb MF 750, and the delivery of grain to the stores at the start of a wet season with the promise of violent storms.

In Oklahoma, when they drive into the Starks’ yard they find out the back the very truck that featured in Yellow Trail. Made welcome by Dale’s son, Larry, they join in the harvest with grandson Garritt pulling the chaser bin.

Further south they finally catch up with 83-year-old Dale himself who records his thoughts about the past. ‘If I was a young man,’ he says, ‘I’d do the same all over again.’ The interview has great poignancy because Dale died a few months later, having just completed his last contract of the year.

09/04/2013

For those who like their reading in digital format, Not All Sunshine and Sand by Paul Rowlands is now available as an e-book from all the major suppliers. Paul recounts his adventures and misadventures driving in Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s and '80s. Information about the paper version is here.

The e-book includes all the illustrations by Brian Wales.

The paperback version will also continue to be in print, published by Old Pond.